The Interlock

Let me take you back to my college years at California Institute of the Arts. I was a dance student, given a schedule of strictly dance-school classes without much room for any other art medium to dabble in, but my second year I convinced my mentor Lawrence (the biggest snooty ballet queen ever) to let me take a couple dance classes in the music school: African Dance and Balinese Dance. I was feeling claustrophobic from all the abstract modern dance that lacked music all together, except for the occasional ear-splitting abstract piece or spoken word crap (ok, I'm being harsh, but I couldn't for the life of me believe that my teachers didn't accept any of my choices of music to dance to, the reason for me to be inspired to dance in the first place, dammit). What a world away those classes were, literally and figuratively.

With African, I got a major workout while challenging my ear and dancing freely....the style of dance I learned was from Ghana, and the beat isn't standard 4/4 like it is in western music. I played a gourd shaker and performed for graduations, it was fabulous.
Balinese dance became my true love, though. With its intricate stylings and subtle gestures with the eyes, fingers, and angled body, I found it such an art form. The music is incredible, coming from an orchestra made up of many different sized xylophone-type instruments that are played on the floor with mallets, a gong, a time-keeper, and various other percussion instruments. The music itself is chimy and ringing and rhytmic, with many players playing the exact melody while others play the up-beat, so the result is a mesh of interlocked rhythms when played in sync. The costumes are elaborate and regal and you dance barefoot. No shoes makes Jessica a happy camper. I danced with both groups for a couple years and then my Balinese teacher asked me if I'd like to learn to play the music...I had no formal training besides the gourd (hee hee), but I accepted and learned quickly. I started on the Jegog, the deepest bass instrument played with a heavy mallet, then moved up to Calung, the higher bass with a wooden mallet, and tried out the gong as well. I became a part of the orchestra and toured around Southern Ca. to various schools and functions to play and dance with the group. It was really incredible and I miss it. I found a teacher at BMCC that was taught by MY teacher, he has a set that came from CalArts and he teaches beginner Gamelan. I dance for his performances and play a bit, but hopefully I'll find a group one of these days in the city to play with.